SMU law school tops Forbes list with 5 billionaire grads

First it laid claim to producing the second most chief executives at Fortune 50 companies. Now Southern Methodist University’s Dedman School of Law has the distinction of having the most billionaire graduates.

In the latest Forbes magazine list of the world’s richest, Dedman lays claims to five grads, ranking it first among law schools. In 2008, SMU trailed only Harvard University’s law school in having the most graduates running the 50 largest companies.

“SMU Dedman Law School is proud to have some of the great leaders of industry, law and government among our alumni,” said Dean John Attanasio.

The law school grads on Forbes’ list include:

Robert Rowling, the owner of the holding company controlling the Omni Hotels and Gold’s Gym chains.

Gerald J. Ford, the noted Texas banker and businessman (not the former president).

Hong-Tu Tsai, Taiwanese financier with stakes in the broad Cathay empire that includes airlines and real estate.

The school’s eponym, Robert Dedman, was a billionaire when he died in 2002.

In terms of racking up billionaires, the next closest law schools, with four graduates each, are Harvard, Columbia and the University of Virginia, according to Forbes’ research. A caveat: Not every billionaire in the world gets represented on Forbes’ list.

The inclusion of the international billionaires helped put SMU into the top ranking. Counting only the U.S. billionaires ranked the school at No. 2, with three billionaires, behind Virginia, which has four.

Attanasio is proud of the top CEO and billionaire distinctions; he’s equally proud of the placement of SMU grads on high courts around the globe.

“When I first became dean in 1998, four of the five justices on the Texas Supreme Court and two of the justices on the Japanese supreme court were graduates of the law school,” he said. “Currently, the chief justices of Thailand and the Philippines, and the former chief justice of Indonesia are among our graduates.”

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